National Apology Day

This Saturday 13th February, Australia commemorates the 13th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd presented this apology in the Australian Parliament which was a momentous occasion of recognition and reconciliation in our nation's history. It was a moment of solidarity and empathy that could be shared by everybody who heard it.

National Apology Day is a day to remember and pray for the children who were taken away from their families and homes and commit to right the wrongs of past injustices and build a bridge of respect between all people.

As a Catholic school we are committed to walking together with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sisters and brothers in a spirit of reconciliation. One way of expressing this commitment is to acknowledge this apology in our school. Teachers and students will acknowledge this momentous occasion in classrooms. The last two years we were very fortunate to be able to work with Uncle Kev through art and celebration of culture with our Aboriginal families. We look forward to having those finishing touches completed so we can display the amazing artwork in our school playground.

As I alluded to in our last newsletter we are changing the format of our newsletter with the intention to make it a more informative vehicle of school priorities, improvement journey, important information and student voice and celebration. We look forward to receiving feedback on the new format and would love to hear the positives as well as any suggestions for improvement.

God Bless

Mrs Belinda Hughes - Principal

In this section of the newsletter we will explore the school improvement journey and share our successes and direction with our school priorities. Today is about sharing a general overview of where our focus lies and where predominantly our professional learning is directed.

This year we are focusing on 4 main areas:

• Vision and Mission - we are in the third year of our journey with vision and mission. This year the goal is to pull together the work of the last 2 years and the input from staff, students and parents. This will guide us to review our current vision and mission, rewrite or amend and then ritualise and celebrate with our community. We will continue to be guided by representatives from the CEO this year.
• Writing - our focus this year is to build on the professional learning of quality learning and teaching in writing and embedding this across the literacy block. We will also be targeting grammar and punctuation, learning more about the mechanics of grammar and punctuation and how to teach this effectively.
• Differentiation - we are excited to explore further different learning and teaching strategies that engage, challenge and support our students with their learning. We will be doing some significant professional learning on contemporary effective teaching strategies that provide a variety of ways for students to learn and demonstrate their learning.
• Student Wellbeing - this year we will be building on some great initiatives that were implemented last year to monitor and address student well being. There will be a focus on creating a shared language for staff, students and parents around articulating how we are feeling, addressing resilience and social and emotional awareness.

Beginning of School Liturgy & Induction of Leaders 

All students from Kindergarten to Year 6 will be involved in a Whole School Liturgy via Zoom on Friday 26th February at 9:30am. The zoom will be lead by Father Ken at our outdoor prayer space. This is an important occasion when we come together as a school to ask for God’s blessings for the year ahead. It is an important time to welcome our new students and staff to our community, as well as acknowledge our 2021 Year 6 leaders. Fr Ken will bless the Year 6 students and present them with their badges. 

Ash Wednesday - Classrooms Liturgies 

On Wednesday 17th February at 9:15 am, some representatives from the Year 6 Living the Faith Team will attend the Ash Wednesday Mass in our Parish Church with Mrs Hughes. After Mass on Ash Wednesday, Year 6 students will visit each of the classrooms (K-5) at 10:30am to hold an Ash Wednesday prayer service. Students will also be completing Ash Wednesday activities during Religious Education lessons. 

Ash Wednesday begins the Season of Lent. During Lent we are encouraged to pray, fast and give alms (money, food or clothing) to those in need. As we all know, Jesus retreated into the desert for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for him a time of reflection and contemplation.

Caritas: Project Compassion 

BE MORE 

Aspire not to HAVE more but to BE more - Oscar Romero

This year CARITAS AUSTRALIA, inspired by the words of the modern-day martyr from El Salvador, have chosen BE MORE as their theme for Project Compassion 2021. We live in a world obsessed with ‘having’ things. The words of Saint Oscar Romero challenge us to ‘be’ more – present, grateful, resilient, resourceful and community-minded.

The Lenten season of 2021 provides us again with the opportunity to stand in solidarity and kinship with our global brothers and sisters. Students will be learning about different countries who have been invited to share their stories this year are Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Indonesia and Australia. You can find more information at https://lent.caritas.org.au/.

Keep your eyes peeled for our special PROJECT COMPASSION FUNDRAISER. 

Mini Vinnies

Each year, year 6 students get the opportunity to elect to be a Mini Vinnie. Mini Vinnies empowers students to become advocates within their school and local community by putting their values into action. We meet regularly to learn about social justice issues, develop leadership skills and engage with the wider St Vincent de Paul Society. Thank you to Miss Negus for your leadership in this area for 2021. Our Mini Vinnies will be commissioned during a Morning Assembly on Wednesday of Week 6.  

Catholic Schools Week

In 2021, celebrations for Catholic Schools Week begin on Sunday 28 February in the second week of Lent. The CEDoW theme for Catholic Schools Week 2021 is ‘Faith in the Future’. This theme aligns with the NCEC theme for Catholic Education celebrating 200 years in Australia. More information will come out in the Week 5 newsletter. 

Miss Emma Groves - Religious Education Co ordinator

CONGRATULATIONS KINDERGARTEN

Kindergarten are settling in well to school life. Their first full day of school was last Thursday and this week has been their first full week. I am so proud of every single student in my class. There is so much to take in at the beginning of Kindergarten - new learning environment, new routines as well as making friends and getting to know their teacher.

Year 5 are to be commended on the way they have supported Kindergarten since they started. They have helped Kindergarten on the playground during recess and lunch and have organised some Sport activities as well as assisted the Kinder students in some Art /Craft activities. Year 5 are showing wonderful leadership skills as the buddy class for Kinder.

Mrs Katie Kelly - Kindergarten Teacher

Year 5 iPad setup

Thank you to all the Year 5 parents who were able to zoom in to learn about how to best set up your child’s iPad. 

If you need a refresher on some of the settings David Emery discussed these clips will be helpful for you

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMfUgqDkZRM 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAXcyGw8Q2Y 

Year 3 & 4: School Managed iPads

On Friday Year 3 and 4 will participate in iPad Bootcamps with Catholic Education Office staff. This will be a hands on session so students can set their iPad up ready to learn. Please ensure your child brings their iPad to school Monday week 4 as they will begin to use these as a learning tool in their classrooms. 

Safer Internet Day 

St Michael’s students have begun the year participating in lessons about digital citizenship and cybersafety.  Tuesday this week was Safer Internet Day. On Safer Internet Day the world comes together with a shared vision of making online experiences better for everyone.

Parent resources 

eSafety's large range of advice and resources can help you learn more about online safety, then share your new knowledge and skills to help protect the people you care about most.

Join one of their free webinars for parents and carers. These live webinars explore the latest research and they are a great way to learn how you can help your child develop the skills to be safer online. All sessions are delivered by eSafety's expert education and training team. https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/webinars 

Miss Emma Riolo - Middle Leader 2

PB4L

What a busy start to the new year! It is always lovely to see the students return with such big smiles and an enthusiasm for learning. It takes us all a while to settle back into the rhythm of school and for some of us, finding a rhythm and learning how school works. So that all students are achieving success, we approach positive behaviours as an opportunity to learn how we are expected to behave. Learning a behaviour is just the same as learning a new skill, either an academic skill or a sporting skill. Just with any of these skills, they require practice and feedback on achievement. Last week we practiced how dismissal works and how we can best show positive behaviours. Students were explicitly shown where they assemble for ease of traffic flow and to lessen the congestion at the school gate. These procedures align with our COVID safe plan. Thank you to all our parents who always follow the outline of either the 3pm or the 3:15 collection times. We know at times this can be difficult, however we value the efforts made. 

Next week we are planning our first PB4L meeting where we set goals for the year and a strategic plan so as to best implement and attain our goals. I also look forward to meeting with our community and wellbeing student team in the coming days. Many of the students have approached me with excitement.

Mrs Ronelle Peardon - Middle Leader 1

The Holy Spirit College Open Day and Evening will take place on Thursday, February 25 2021.  There are two sessions scheduled for the day.  

The morning session begins with an information session in the Casey Ryder Centre at  8.45am - 9.45am followed by a tour of the College from  9.45am - 11am.  

The evening session will begin with a tour of the College from 5.30pm - 6.45pm followed by the information session in the Casey Ryder Center at 7pm.  

Applications opened for Year 7 2023 on February 1 2021, and will close on Thursday April 1 2021.  Please contact the College for an enrolment package.  

This is a great opportunity for our current students to showcase their work and future students to get a taste of the Holy Spirit College Community. 

Thank you for your support of this important event.

We have introduced an exciting new section in our school newsletter which will feature the great things that our students are doing at St Michael's.

This Term our focus will be on our School Leaders. Enjoy!

Awards

Congratulations to the following students who received awards at the last assembly

Principal's Award

Hugo R

Edison C

Lara Mc

Oscar L

Asha B

Lodi N